Synopsis.
As I begin to describe my current
social universe, I must pause to recall that as of Bastille Day 2017, there
are only four people from my earlier life with whom I have direct contact.
From Wells High they are Annette Clayton (in Port Isabel) & her political
sister Bobbie(Flint), and Marie Scavone (Glendale Heights). And from my Loyola
employment, only Tom Korinek (Bradenton). As you may recall, I have not been part of a
family since 1967, nor have I acquired or developed one of my own. Yet. Continuing
…

While Social Security funding in the neighborhood of
$1k/month is effectively defined as my sole source of present income, I am
reluctant to think of this arrangement as my ultimate financial situation.
Though I must confess that what I have now is hardly any worse than how
I’ve lived all my life. The defining constant in this section of my bio
will be my residency in SP3’s section 8 housing, originally called
Methodist Place (associated with UMC’s First Methodist Church across the
street, now the Portico campus of Hyde Park
Methodist), and lately christened as SP3’s Vista 400.

The period began with some continuity in the affairs of
Tampa’s early Public Access, recast mainly as a service to NPOs calling
itself TBCN.
Most of my recreational life will consist in the transcription of my
favorite reading into something I am able to see on my computer, vastly enhanced over what one might call
typical Blog formatting. Although presumably discouraged by stipulations on
successive HUD leases, I have also indulged in some institutional
non-credit HCC
refreshment of my computer skills.

[Jjd. For some unknown
reason, browsers underline this text: still trying to get rid of that … ]

Some time before I signed my first May lease in 2003,
Bill Kyle quit our Warren Avenue residency to savor the luxury of downtown
life at the 14-story 200-unit Methodist Place (MP). Early on, ◄Bill & I► swapped snapshot
service in the vicinities of Ybor and the railroad station, shown here in the
margins. We would soon be joined by a third resident I only recall as named
Bob. Both I recall as avid smokers, both having collapsed at least once
unattended in their rooms, and both now dead. Unique nonetheless, Bill was
well-known in the building for his several romantic involvements, and Bob
routinely obtained oral service from a wrinkled smoker still with us – at
least as long as he contributed to the holiday needs of her grandchildren.
Noticed dying, Kyle would acquire a closetful of special outside friends, who
saw to his hospice removal, and loved him so much the rest of us never even found
out where the poor guy was buried.

Following
preliminary contact in February, and some delay waiting for a vacancy to open
on the south side of the building above the 5th floor, I was ready
to sign my 2003 lease on May 19th. Always interested in accommodating
my fairly vast collection of computer equipment and books with a minimum of
free-standing furniture, I hoped to simply bolt sufficient shelving to the
walls. Jill’s response was that “it was my home,
do whatever I wanted.” So I did. My east wall handled my data
processing needs, and the west wall would contain a well-lit whiteboard &
lots of books.

Eventually
we all learned that Jill herself was already pretty good at doing what she
wanted.

______________________________________________________

Three
years before its relocation to Tampa Bay Mall, I made my last Public Access
video using equipment from TBCN’s North B studio on the U/T campus. Borrowing
a single camera, on November 9th 2008 I proceeded to St Mary’s
Episcopal establishment to tape the festive visit of Katharine
Jefferts Schori, in her 2nd year as Presiding
Bishop of the Episcopal Church. We chatted briefly before and after the
program, and later dined outdoors (separately) on some mighty tasty Ethiopian
cuisine.

Successive
editions of Dabney Smith's
Southern Cross incautiously
lampooned some of Katharine's theological perspectives. When her 9-year PB
term expired in 2015, she was replaced by Michael Curry
of North Carolina. Curry was elected by the House of Bishops meeting in St. Mark's
Cathedral on the first ballot with 121 of 174 votes cast,
leaving the 3 other nominees (including her demeaning 2008 Tampa host) to
share the remaining 53.

______________________________________________________

2009
thru 2013: Some mention must be made of my effort to pursue continuing adult
education in Tampa. This has been on three campuses involving two
institutions. I first noticed USF’s program, administered for seniors at
OLLI. For a modest fixed annual fee, we were allowed full take-home access to
its mighty fine library. Course access in my area of interest was however
extremely limited, and I almost succeeded in using
it maybe twice. For one of these, the Asian instructor’s English rendered the
course useless. There was one reception for us at the Presidential residence,
which may have included wine.

I
became far more involved in the offerings from HCC: two early FREs on their
Ybor Campus, and 17 others on Dale Mabry’s. As not only a Senior but also
older than any of the faculty I encountered, I will soon take the liberty of
analyzing these courses in terms of my impression of each presiding
instructor – ranked from most pleasant to least. It should be noted that
these courses while tuition-free also carried no academic credit, so there
would invariably be some difference of opinion in each particular case as to
whether I would complete routine assignments. A chronological overview of my
participation (09/FA thru 13/SP) would show the following:

CET-1174C 36955 AdvCompter Repair 13/SP

CTS-1303 37281 MS Win Impl & Adm Dir Serv13/SP

CET-1172C 36952 Computer Upgrading & Repair 13/SP

SPN-1120 39227 Elem Spanish I 13/SP

COP-2654 25617 iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch Ap Dev 12/SP

COP-2360 08696 Programming in C# 1/SP

COP-2805 08697 JAVA Advanced 11/SP

CAP-2043 03184 Adv Game Design/Dev
10/FA

COP-1820 03470 Visual BASIC, Beginning 10/FA

COP-2800 03472 JAVA Programming 10/FA

CAP-1023 99711 Intro to Game Development 10/SU

COP-2823 99876 Graphics DsgnMltmedia/Intrnet10/SU

CGS-1000 99754 Intro to Computers & Tech 10/SU

CGS-2822 94688 Web Site Creation 10/SP

CET-1123C 99430 Intro to Microprocessors 10/SP

COP-2822 99367 Scripting for the Web 10/SP

CTS-1106 98548 Intro to UNIX 10/SP

FRE-1121 95512 Elem French II 10/SP

FRE-1120 91960 Elem French I 09/FA

Keeping
me alive for all this:

Family
Care Center, TGH ▼

Dr Ramiro, Nurse Suzi, & Myrna

Thinking futures, I
might follow the direction suggested by my 14-September-2016 attendance at a
seniors seminar hosted by Centro Asturiano, promoting USF’s Osher Lifelong
Learning Institute (OLLI). Suggesting abundant contact with
my aging peers, it could indeed be social fun as well. Course information is
presumably available in a downloadable publication called Evergreen.
There is always the OLLI Information Desk: 813-974-8036: ollivol@gmail.com.

Whatever
further novelty the immediately preceding construction might introduce to
this page, I’m sure I know not do not know what might precipitate my final
life event. I have filed what I hope may be all the paperwork necessary to
guide St Andrews staff …

Preceding
all of the above, I fondly recall with gratitude and wonder the maternal side
of my genetic self:

Mary
Villis Johnson (1 Jan 1910 in Lithuania - 22
Apr 1967 (aged 57),

her mother, Margaret Villis (1 Jan
1882 - 1 Mar 1952 (aged 70))

and
father, Joseph
Villis (1 Jan 1890 - 1 Apr 1935 (aged 45)).

All of their remains interred at Saint Casimir Catholic
Cemetery, Chicago Il.

Nothing
much is known about pere Aurila
(also called Joseph): his origins or his destiny. His surname is not

typically
Lithuanian, although a segment of our 14th century nobility is said to have
come from northern Italy.